Lettering machine



Feb. 19, 1935. Q QN LETTERING MACHINE Filed March 9, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR,

IN VEN TOR.

L, M DONALD LETTERING MACHINE Filed March 9, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 19,1935,

Patented Feb. 19,. 1935 um Eo -sTATss PATENT. ors cs This invention relates 'to lettering machines of the type carrying an interchangeable plate of master letters or other characters and a pantograph for copying the'characters of the master copy on a drawing surface over which the maichine moves. In practice the mastercopy will consist of grooved characters, the grooves serving to guide the tracer, but the machine isuseful and operative with characters not grooved. This machine is designed to operate independent of guide. bars, orv straight edges such as are used in'my Patent No. 1,784,152, granted December 9,1930 and application Ser. No. 490,880, filed Octoberfl l, 1930, for maintaining parallelism of its movement. Parallelism of its movement is obtained by means of an axle having a fixed 7118811011- each end adapted to roll on a drawing surface, the wheels having friction-material on their periph cries, such as rubber having sharp granular material incorporated with it, to prevent accidental displacement. It may belined up for use by adjusting-it so as to make marks on the upper and on the lower side of the machine coincide with 2.

line drawn as required on the drawing surface. It is also adapted to be connected with a protractor of the type guided for parallel movement by parallel jointed rods attached to the protrac: tor and to a drawing board. The rolling wheels of the machine prevent sidewise displacement and the protractor prevents angular displacement. It is also adapted to be connected with a straightedge to prevent angular displacement. The device includes letter spacing mechanism adapted for this type of machine, and a new mechanism for shifting each master character into position for being copied in line. The device further has a new arrangement of the support and pantograph, wheres by the pantograph draws through a circular opening in the 1 support, which contributes to compactness of the machine, and it includes means for mounting the pantograph so that the rear end of it will have nearly as much up and down move-1 other improvements hereinafter described.

' These mechanisms are illustrated by the accompanying drawings, of which Fig.1 is a plan view. Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an end view of the rear part of the machine on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a broken side view of the same, showing the mechanism for operating the pawl, Fig; 5 is edge, .1

The supporting plate 1 has bearings 2' for axle 3,

a-sectional view on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1,show.-

, ing the spacing mechanism. 1 Figs. 6 and '7 show the top and end view of the bar for attaching the machineto the protractor. Figs. 8 and 9 show top and side views of one of the bars for connect ing it with a straight-edge. Fig. 10 shows a mod ification of the mounting of the pantograph. Fig.

11 shows a pawl adapted to be operated direct by thefthumbJ Fig. 12 shows the machine connected with a protractor controlled by parallel jointed,

rods. Fig.13shows it connected with a straight- Which has a wheel 4 fixed on each end for rolling movement of the machine over a drawing surface. The. machine is usedindependent of guide-bars, or straight-edges for maintaining its angular positionl and thereby preserving parallelism. But where a protractorof the type having parallel jointed rods attached to a drawing board and to the protractor for maintaining it at a fixed angle is being used, the machine may be attached to it by a bar 5 attached to the under side of the machine, having a dove-tail part adapted to slip intothe rule-holding chuck 6 of the protrac'tor (seeFigs. 6, 7, and 12) for preventingan'gular displacement of thefmachine, The termprotractor as herein used includes the supporting on the plate or where a straight-edge of the type held for parallelism of its movement by the usual pulleys and cord devices attachedto the drawing board, or by any other suitable means forthe same purpose, is being used, the machine may be connected with it by two bars 7 (see Figs.

8, 9; and 13) havinga block 8, and screw 9 slidable in slot 10 for adjusting the block to different size straight-edges. Fins 11 preventdisconnection. With this arrangementmeans for preventing endwise movement of the straight-edge is unnecessary, as this will be prevented by the frictional contact of wheels 4 with the drawing surface. P

Supporting plate 1 has a circular opening 12.

A bearing 13 is a drive fit in the opening, and with the balls 14 forms the bearings for annular member 15. An annular plate 16 has spaced master characters on it, some of the characters having the elements of several letters or figures super-' posed for convenience of tracing, and is removably mounted onmember 15and is held rotatable therewith bypin 1'7, and has a notch 18 onits periphery for each character. A pawl 19 pivota y mountcdon supporting plate 1 is held in engagement with any one of notches 18 by spring 20 attached to supporting plate 1 and to the pawl, for locating and holding each character in position for being copied in line by the pantograph.

The means for revolving plate 15 comprises a shaft 21 having spiral grooves, mounted on supporting plate 1, its lower end being supported by ball bearings formed by supporting plate 1 and annular bearing 22 held in place by screws 23, the shaft having a conical end and a conical headed screw 24 for bearings. The upper end of the shaft has a bearing on support 25, which is held in place on supporting plate 1 by two screws 26. A nut 27 has internal threads engaging the grooves on shaft 21 and is prevented from revolving by slot 28 engaging support 25. A handle 29 is pivoted to two arms 30 on nut 27 for slight angular movement limited by bar 31 attached to handle 29 coming into contact with nut 27. A spring 32 connected to the lower part of support 25 and to the under side of the handle normally holds the nut and handle at their highest position on shaft 21, and is connected to the han- 'dle some distance to the rear of its pivotal bearings to normally hold the handle in the forward position of its pivotal swing. A disk 33 is fixed to theiower end of shaft 21 and has frictional contact with annular member 15, and may have special friction material on its periphery, whereby up and down movement of handle 29 revolves member 15, for bringing each character of the master copy into position for being copied in line. Disk driving member 33 need not be a disk in all equivalent mechanisms.

Means for operating pawl 19 from the handle, comprises, an inclined rod 34 having bearings at one end on support 35 on supporting plate 1, and an integral arm 36 connected by link 37 to pawl 19. The oppositeend of rod 34 has bearings on nut 27, and an integral arm 38 connected to hook link 39, the upper or hooked end of which extends through U-shaped rod 39a fixed to the side of the handle. The hook is held out of engagement with the U-shaped rod by spring 391), but may be pressed into engagement with it by the thumb, whereby rearward movement of the handle on its pivotal hearings will disengage pawl 19 from notches 18. A short slot 40 in link 37 allows the handle to resume its forward position while the point of the pawl 19 is sliding on the periphery of plate 16 between notches 18. The pantograph comprises bars a, b, c, and d pivoted together end to end and a bar I has a slot in each end to receive bars I) and c, and has a slot g in which two plates h and 1' having splines fitting in the slots are slidably mounted, h. having a plain hole and "5 having a threaded hole which receive threaded tubular member 9. The tubular member has a shoulder is contacting with plate h. Drawing member 6 is slidably mounted in the tubular member. A spring I encircles the under side of collar m on the tubular member, and the upper side of collar 11. on the drawing member, and normally holds the drawing member at its lowest position in the'tubular member.

Means foradjusting the pantograph for copying in various sizes, comprises an extension- 0 on bar a to which a spring p is attached. A cord q has one of its ends attached to spring :0 and its other end attached to extension 1' on bar d, and extends over the outer side of single-grooved wheel s pivoted on the under side of one end of slotted bar '1 and over the outer side of a doublegrooved wheel 32 pivoted on the under side of the opposite end of bar 1. One end of cord t is attached to spring it which is attached to extension 1) of bar a, and is wound once around double-grooved wheel 82 from the inner side of the wheel and its other end is attached to the under side of the near end of bar d. Bar 0 has a slot 20 extending the length of the travel of bar 1. A pin .2 in bar I is a close fit in slot w to prevent endwise movement of bar An opening 3 in bar 1 permits a view of the graduation marks on bar a. 'Cord q is attached by a screw and clip .2 to one edge of platei, whereby the drawing member may be adjusted for copying in different sizes simply by sliding tubular member 9 in slot g, which moves bar f until the opening 51 in bar 1 coincides with the required graduation mark. My application Ser. No. 490,880 contains a description of this pantograph.

The pantograph is mounted as follows:

arm 41 has conical bearings 42 on bearing block 43 secured to supporting plate 1 by screws 44, for slight up and down movement of the arm in a plane at right angles to the face of supporting plate 1, and is held'slightly elevated by spring 45 connected with the arm and supporting plate 1. The spring is offset to obtain a sort of toggle action, whereby the resistance of the arm will be the same in all of its positions of elevation. On the free end of the arm is a stud pivot 46 on which the pantograph is mounted to swing in a plane horizontal to the face of plate 1 when the pantograph is in its working position. Inner sleeve 48 on pivot 46 is integral with arm a. of the pantograph, and outer sleeve 49 is integral with arm b of the pantograph, held on the pivot by I nut 50. i The pantograph has a tracer 51 slidabiy mounted in sleeve 52, which sleeve is integral with arm 01 of the pantograph. The tracer is normally held at its lowest position in the sleeve by a spring 53 encircling sleeve 52, and tracer 51 above collar 54 fixed to the tracer, whereby downward movement of the pantograph by operating handle 55 pivoted to collar 56 which collar is slidably and rotatably mounted on the tracer, will cause the tracer to contact with the master copy before a further downward movement of the pantograph will bring the drawing member e into contact with the drawing surface.

' The object of mounting the pantograph on arm 41 is, that by so doing the rear end of the pantograph will be depressed nearly as much as the front end, thereby bringing the drawing memher into contact with the drawing surface with only moderate downward movement of the front end, even when the drawing member is adjusted to its extreme rear position to draw the smallest size letters possible, whereas if the pantograph were pivoted direct to the plate 1 great up and down movement of the front end of the pantograph would produce only slight up and down movement of the rear or pivoted end. The arm 41 will preferably be Y-shaped when used in a lettering machine not having a disk 33 in the "way, with its two conical bearings sufficiently far apart to prevent twisting flexibility of the arm. Or if an arm not forked is used its single bearing must be suiiioiently long to prevent twisting flexibility. The arm may be mounted to one side of the rear end of the pantograph, in which case the up and down movement of the rear end will be about equal to that of the front end. Or it may be mounted straight in the rear of the panto graph, in which case the degree of the up and down movement of the rear end relative to that of the forward end will depend on the length of .Jii

the arm. and the swinging .positionof the pantograh with respect to the arm.

' Mean'sffor spacing the copied 'lettersgor char acters,,..comprises, a disk .57 fixed to shaft 3, a

graduated arc 58 secured to supporting plate 1, an arm 59 having bearings on shaft 3 for angular movement, having a slot .60 in its outer end to receive the arc, and a slot 61 extending a greater part of its length,'and a.'thumb screw 62 for:

clamping it to are 58'at the mark indicating the required distance. An arm 63 has bearings on shaft, 3 between disk and arm-59. A pawl 64- is pivoted to theouteriend'of arm'6 3, its point projecting'inwardly and contacting with the pe-1 riphery of disk 57 the radial length of the pawl being a little greater-than the distance between its pivotal centerand the periphery of the dish whereby toggle-clutch action is obtained. With forward movement ,of thecarriage' the disk carries the armwith it, which movement is limited by the arm contactingwith pin 65 on supporting plate 1.. An over-projecting lug. 6:; on arm-63.

limits the upward movement of the point of the pawl. A spring 67 bowed at its rear end and hav: ing its rear rounded point fitting loosely in a hole- 67a in the hub of arm 63, is connectedto the for ward part of pawl 64 center over its pivotal bear ingswhen the pawl is in its neutral position, whereby when the point of the pawl is raised the spring'will hold it out of contact with the periphery or disk5'7, and when depressed the spring will hold it in contact with the periphery of diskw57. A cupped springwasher on the pivot oi the pawl, or av tight bearing would hold the pawl in its ele vated position without spring 67.. A coiled spring,

, 68 (see Fig. 5) is attached to thehubof the arm 63 and to supporting plate 1, whereby, when the i-pawl islifted' arm 63 isthrown back to arm 59 which has an inclined surface 69 which turns the point of pawl 64 intocontact withlthe periphery of disk 5'? again. ,A pawl 7.01s pivotedto an extension. 71, of arm 59,;its point projecting inwardly and forward of its pivotal bearings, and is held in contact with the periphery of disk 5 by spring this method, an inclined rod 73 has bearings at one end on support M on supportingp-late 1', and an integral crank shaped armfl'TS, the end of which extends under the pawl 84.. The opposite end of rod '73 has bearings on nut 27, and an arm 76 connected bylink 77 to the upper forward part of handle 29, whereby rearward movement of the handle on its pivotal bearings lifts the point of the pawl-f v A downwardly extendingfiange 78 onthe upper and on the lower edge of the machine, has a mark 7 9 by which the machine may be adjusted to a line drawn on the drawing surface. Fig. shows a modification wherein the supporting arm A corresponding to 41, has its conical bearings B sufliciently far apart to clear disk 33, permitting it to be mounted on studs C on supporting plate 1 straight in therear' of the pantograph instead of to one side, and it is held'up by spring D. 'And a simpler pawl E, may be used with either type. See also Fig. 1 1. V This pawl handle, but has an upwardly extending part1 H whichmay: be engaged by thethun'lb.

I claim;

- 1.,In a lettering machine, a support, ,acircu- I mounted on plate 1 in thesame manner as-pawlj 19, except that it has a long integral hub bearing; 13 on stud pivot G. It has no connectionwith the lar -plate rotatably mounted on saidisupport,g.

spaced master charactersonj said circular plate,

a pantograph mounted on said support for copy-1 ingsaid characters on a drawing surfaceover which said. support may be arranged to "move,

a shaft vertically mounted on said support having spiral grooves, a nut having internal threads engaging said grooves, a handle connected with said nut, means preventingrotation ofsaid nut, so that longitudinal .movement of the nut revolves said shaft, a driving member attached to the lower end of said shaft having a driving'con nection with said circular plate for revolving the,

required master character into position for-being copied in line, there beinga notch on the periphcry of said plate for each character, a pawl, pivotedv to said support, and a spring holdingitin engagement with any one of said notches;

- 2. A carriage, comprising a supporting plate,

an axle journaled on said supporting plate,yand

awheel fixed on each end of said axle for paralleL rolling movement of said carriage on a drawing surface, there being a circular opening in said supporting plate, an annular member, having bearingsv around said circular opening, a shaft ver tically mounted on-said supporting plate, having spiral grooves, a nut having internal threads en'.

gaging saidgrooves, meansfor preventing rota-1 tion of said nut, a handleconnected with said,

nut,.whereby up and down movement of the handie will revolve said shaft, 2. spring undersaid handle tending to force it to its highest position on said shaft, a disk fixed to the lower end of said rshaft having frictional contact with said annular member for revolving it, an annular;

plate mounted on said annular member, rotatable- 1 therewith, having master characters'th'ereon, and

a'notch on its periphery for each-character, a

pawl pivoted to said supporting plate, a spring for holding. said pawlin engagement with; anyone; of said notches, forl catingthe characters in 'position'for being copied in line, a pantograph' carried bysaid supporting plate mounted to extend over said circular opening, having a'tracer for tracing said characters, and a drawingmember fo-r'copying said characters through said cir-,

cular opening on adrawing surface.

3. In mechanism as in claim 2, an inclined rod.

having at one end a fixed bearing .on said sup porting plate and an arm and a link connected to the end of the arm and to saidpawl, its oppositeend having a bearing on said nut and an arm and a hook link conected to the end of the arm, adapted tobe pressed into engagement with said handle, pivotal bearings for said handle, and means connecting said pivotal bearings withsaid nut, for slight angular movement of said handle f or operating said pawl.

- v 4. With mechanism as in clainl 2 spacing mechanism, comprising, a disk fixed on said axle, a graduated are adjacent said disk, secured to said supporting plate, an arm having hearings on said axlexfor angular movement, split a greater part oif'its length, having a slot in its outer end for receiving senders, and a screw for clampingit to said are at the mark indicating the required Spec ing distance, an arm having bearings on said axle adjacent the first mentioned arm, a pawl pivoted to its outer end, the point of the pawl projecting inwardly and contacting with the periphery of the disk with toggle-clutch action, whereby the arm is revolved by the disk by forward movement of the carriage, a pin projecting up from said supporting plate limiting the movement of the arm, an inclined rod having at one end hearings on said nut, and an arm and a link connected to the end of the arm and to said handle, pivotal bearings for said handle, and means connecting said pivotal bearings with said nut, the opposite end of the rod having fixed bearings on said supporting plataand an arm projecting under said pawl, whereby angular movement of said handle will lift said pawl out of contact with said disk, a spring having one end fixed to said last mentioned arm and its other end fixed to said supporting plate, whereby the arm, when released by the operation of said handle, is thrown back to the first mentioned arm, which has an inclined surface that turns the point of the pawl into contact with the periphery of the disk, a

pawl attached to the first mentioned arm, its' point projecting inwardly of its pivotal bearings, and a spring holding it in contact with the periphery of the disk, to prevent rearward movement of the carriage.

5. A lettering machine, comprising, a carriage consisting of a support. an axle journaledv on said support, and a wheel fixed on each end of said axle for parallel rolling movement of said carriage, a master copy mounted on said support,

and a pantograph mounted on said support for copying'the charactersof the master copy on a drawing surface over which said lettering machine moves, and means for spacing the copied characters, comprising a disk fixed on said axle,

a graduated are adjacent said disk secured to said support, an arm having bearings on said axle for angular movement, split a greateripart of its length, having a slot in its outer end to receive said arc, and a screw for clamping it to the are at the mark indicating the required spacing distance, an arm having bearings on said axle adjacent the first mentioned arm, a pawl pivoted to the outer end of it, the point of the pawl projecting inward of its pivotal bearings and contacting with the periphery of the disk, whereby the arm is revolved by the disk by forward move-- ment of the carriage, apin projecting up from said support limiting the movement of the arm, means for lifting said pawl out of contact with said disk, a spring having one end attached to the last mentioned arm and its other end attached to said support, whereby the arm. when the pawl is released, is thrown back to the first mentioned arm, which has an inclined surface which turns the point of the pawl. into contact with the periphery of the disk, and a pawl at-,

tached to the first mentioned arm, its point projecting inward of its pivotal bearings, and a spring holding it in contact with the periphery of said disk.

6. In mechanism as in claim 2, a spring connected with said pantograph and said tracer normally holding the tracer at its lowest position on said pantograph, an arm having bearings on said supporting plate for angular movement of the arm in a plane at right angles to the face of said plate, a spring connected with said plate and said arm, normally holding the arm slightly elevated, a rigid pivot on the free end of the arm, on which said pantograph has hearings to swing in a plane parallel with the face of said plate when the pantograph is in its working position, by which arrangement substantial up and down movement of all parts of said-pantograph is effected. I

7. In a lettering machine, a support,'a master copy mounted on said support, a pantograph for copying the characters of the master copy, having a. drawing member, a tracer, and a spring connected with the pantograph and the tracer, normally holding the tracer at its lowest position on said pantograph, an arm having bearings on said support for angular movement in a vertical plane, the longitudinal limits of the bearings of said arm being suflicient distance apart to prevent lateral and twisting flexibility of said arm, a spring connected with said support and said arm normally holding the arm slightly elevated, a rigid pivot on the free end of said arm, on which said pantograph is mounted for angular movement in a horizontal plane, by which arrangement substantial up and down movement of all parts of said pantograph is effected, bringing the drawing member, in all of its positions of adjustment, into contact with the drawing surface promptly after the tracer contacts with themaster copy.

8. In a lettering machine, a supporting plate having a circular opening, an annular member, having bearings around said circular opening, an annular plate mounted on said member, rotatable therewith, having master characters thereon, and a notch for each character, a pawl pivoted to said supporting plate, a spring for holding it in engagement with any one of said notches, and a pantograph mounted on said sup-- porting plate to extend over said circular opening, for copying said characters through said opening on a drawing surface over which said supporting plate may be arranged to move.

9. A lettering machine, comprising, a support, an axle journaled on said support, a wheel fixed on each end of said axle, for parallel rolling movement of said lettering machine on a drawing surface, a master copy mounted on said support, a pantograph mounted on said support, for copying the characters of the master copy on a drawing surface, two bars attached to and extending from said support having a shoulder to abut against one edge of a straight-edge of the type having means for maintaining parallelism of its movement, and a block on each bar adjustable to the opposite edge of said straight-edge, slidable thereon, said straight-edge preventing angular displacement of said lettering machine.

10. A lettering machine, comprising a support, an axle journaled on said support, a Wheel fixed on each end of said axle, for parallel rolling movement of said lettering machine on a drawing surface, a master copy mounted on said support, a pantograph mounted on said support, for copying the characters of the master copy on a drawing surface, a protractor of the type having parallel jointed rods connected to the protractor and to a drawing board, for maintaining parallelism of its movement, and means rigidly connecting said lettering machine with said protractor, detachable therefrom, for preventing angular displacement of the lettering machine.

11. In a lettering machine, a support, a plate having spaced master characters thereon, and means mounting said plate for movement horizontally on said support, a pantograph mounted internal threads engaging said grooves, means for preventing rotation of said nut, a handle connected with said nut whereby up and down movement of said nut will revolve said shaft, a driving member fixed to the lower end of said shaft having a driving connection with said plate for imparting movement thereto, locating means 10 on said plate, holding means on said support adapted to ooope'rate with any oneof said locating means when the locating means is moved into contact with the holding means by movement of said plate, whereby the plate is held stationary with the character corresponding to the locating means engaged, in position for being traced and copied by said pantograph in line ona drawing surface over which said support may be arranged to move LEONARD MCDONALD. i 

